A Very Marauders Christmas
by owlwayssandforever
Summary: Christmas with the Marauders and Lily through the years. Potter Secret Santa gift for @jamesxlilyxpotter.
1. Chapter 1

**Hogwarts, Christmas Eve 1971**

 _I can't help reminiscing_

 _Knowing I'll be missing_

 _Christmas Eve in my hometown_

 _…_

 _Through dreams and just pretending_

 _I'm there and I'll be spending_

 _Christmas Eve in my hometown_

Lily sat curled up in the corner of the Gryffindor common room, her knees hugged to her chest underneath her floral nightgown. The younger students had all gone to bed ages ago, eagerly awaiting presents in the morning. The older students who had gone to the Winter Ball were mostly back, and those who weren't were probably finding some cozy corner of the castle to snuggle up with their dates. Lily might only be eleven, but she knew all about such things. Unlike the rest of the school, Lily was not particularly excited about Christmas, in fact she was feeling a bit blue. She rested her head against the soft fabric of the chair, allowing it to caress her cheeks. She thought she might have been dozing off in the warmth of the flickering fire when the sound of footsteps on stone made her look up.

"Oh, sorry," James Potter said looking abashed and turning as though to go back up to his dormitory.

"That's alright," Lily answered hastily, sitting up straighter in her armchair and adjusting her nightgown. "You can stay if you want, I don't mind." She did not particularly want James Potter's company, but it was a common room after all, and he had just as much right to be there as she did.

"Okay," he replied quietly, his bare feet making no noise on the carpet as he walked over, choosing to sprawl out on the couch in front of the fire. "What are you doing down here?" he inquired, after a few minutes of silence.

Oh, I… I just…" she tried to think of some lie to tell, but the only though in her mind was that this year was the worst Christmas ever, and tears began to well up unbidden in her eyes.

"Lily, are you alright?" James asked, bolting upright with concern lacing his features.

"Yes, I'm fine," she sniffed, slightly overwhelmed by his concern and not at all missing that it was the first time he had ever called her Lily and not Evans. "It's just not how I expected Christmas to be this year, that's all."

"What d'you mean?"

"I thought I'd be back home with my family for Christmas, that's all," Lily stated, not wanting to spill her secrets to James of all people.

"So why didn't you?" James pressed, leaning back against the couch casually. "Go home, I mean. We are allowed to, you know."

"Yes, I'm aware," she snapped at him, crossing her arms across her chest.

"So?" he pursued, and Lily huffed in annoyance.

"My sister asked me not to, if you must know," she answered, and though she was trying to seem brave, her voice wavered a little too much to be convincing.

"What?" James said, sounding shocked.

"I've been writing letters to my sister all term," Lily began, and suddenly everything was coming out in a rush of words that she couldn't seem to stop, "and she hasn't answered a single one because she's so upset that I'm here and she thinks I'm a freak and that I should give up my magic or something because she thinks its this awful, terrible thing, and so I wrote a few weeks ago to say that I was coming home and I couldn't wait to see her and that I hope we could be friends again, and she answered at last and it was… it was this."

Lily reached into the pocket of her nightgown with shaking hands and pulled out a worn piece of parchment, and handed it to James, tears glittering in her green eyes. He unfolded it carefully, eyes focused on her for a moment, until they flicked down to read the words that had been scrawled there in Petunia's neat handwriting.

Don't bother. No one wants you here, freak.

"That's terribly, Lily," James said quietly, his voice almost a whisper. When he looked back up at here, his eyes were soft, almost like they were giving Lily a hug. "I'm sure they miss you lots, even your sister."

"Yes, I know, but…" she hesitated before deciding she really had nothing to lose at that point. "I always loved Christmas, it was my favourite, but now she's gone and ruined it."

"Well don't let her!" he asserted, scooting to the front of the couch and leaning towards her. "If you let her get to you, then she wins, so don't let her. Turn your nose up at her and have the best Christmas anyway!"

"I'm not sure that I can," Lily answered, smiling softly.

"Why not?" James challenged, all boldness.

"Because I haven't gotten to decorate a tree or make cookies or mince meat pies or sing carols or do any of the things I love to do."

"Well, we can fix that, come on, what's your favourite carol?" he said, standing excitedly and offering his hand.

"Silent Night," Lily replied, delicately placing her hand in his and letting him pull her to her feet.

"Er, right, okay," James hesitated for a second, but then pulled her over to the evergreen tree in the corner of the common room. As Lily looked on, slightly confused, James pulled several of the red and gold ornaments off its branches and placed them on the floor, kneeling down next to them when he had amassed a significant pile.

"James –" Lily began to protest, but he shushed her.

"Give me a minute," he said, pulling his wand out of his red pajama bottoms, and he started waving it at the little pile of baubles, muttering quietly.

After a moment, Lily gasped as the baubles started to shift – one become a lion, another a snitch, another a little sprig of mistletoe, and yet another a bright red poinsettia.

"Okay, go ahead, place them wherever you like," James instructed, standing up and backing away from the tree a few paces.

Lily crouched down next to the pile, picking up the poinsettia bauble first. As she approached the tree, she heard James start crooning, quite terribly, Silent Night behind her, and she couldn't keep the smile from her face. When she had placed all the baubles back on the tree precisely where she thought they looked best, James stepped up behind her.

"Do you have your wand?" he asked, and she shook her head. He handed her his own and then wrapped his hand around hers on the handle. "Okay, move it like this –" he made a loop-the-loop type motion "- and say _ornatis_."

He released her hand and she did as he had instructed. The first few attempts nothing happened, but James nodded encouragingly and she tried again. Thin gold streams of tinsel flew out of the wand tip, and Lily draped them carefully over the tree branches, making sure they were perfectly arranged. When she was satisfied, she whispered _finite_ , and the garnish broke off from the wand tip, which she handed back to James.

"How did you know how to do that?" she asked, her emerald eyes wide in awe.

"My mother uses that spell, she taught me a few years ago when I wanted to help," James shrugged, his cheeks flaming.

"Thank you," she whispered, and James smiled, a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"Oh, I'm not done yet," he grinned. "You stay here, I'll be right back."

Without another word, he pushed through the portrait hole, not even giving Lily enough time to object. She stood for a moment in indecision, not sure whether or not to go stop him or to wait and see what he was up to. After a minute, Lily decided on the latter, so she crossed to the bookshelves, pulling a copy of _A Christmas Carol_ down and settling back in her armchair. James was gone for about half an hour, and when he returned, he seemed to be positively bursting with excitement, one hand holding something behind his back. With a flourish, he pulled it out, showing Lily a plate chock full of treats.

"Assorted Christmas cookies and mince pies!" James exclaimed proudly, puffing out his chest as Lily smiled up at him in wonder.

"How did you-?" she asked, reaching out tentatively.

"I went down to the kitchens and asked," he explained. "I know it's not the same as baking them, but eating will just have to do."

"This is wonderful, James," she grinned, and he placed the plate on the little table in front of the fire.

Lily put the book aside and slid down to the floor, so she was kneeling on the carpet next to the table, and she selected her first cookie.

"Well, aren't you going to join me?" she asked, quirking one eyebrow, and James collapsed on the floor hurriedly, grabbing a mince pie from the plate. "So how come you didn't go home for Christmas?"

"I'm not some little kid who gets homesick and needs to see their parents," James scoffed, and Lily felt her heart sink a little bit. James seemed to notice, and he softened, his eyes dropping a bit and his posture relaxing. "And… Sirius' parents still aren't speaking to him, so he had to stay. With Remus and Peter gone home…"

"You didn't want Sirius to be alone for Christmas?" Lily said, more a statement than a question.

"Yeah, I suppose so," he nodded, not looking directly at her, as though he were embarrassed she might see him so sensitive.

"Well," she said, not pressing the matter, and she stood and moved over to one of the side tables, pulling out spare quills and ink and parchment, and she sat down on the floor again spreading her materials out in front of her.

Lily grabbed a mince pie and set to work, dipping the quill in ink and then sketching it across the parchment, her little lines beginning to form the likeness of a tree. She hummed as she went, and James looked on, half amused and half curious, until she sat back, looking satisfied with her work. James tried hard to suppress his laughter, but to little avail.

"Sorry, and what's that supposed to be?" he teased, and Lily smacked him round the head with a roll of parchment.

"It's a partridge in a pear tree!" she nearly screeched, looking at him with irritation and amusement in her eyes.

"A what?" James asked, feeling even more confused than he had by her rather poor drawing.

"You know, from the song," she insisted, a look as though he were missing something rather obvious on her face.

"What song?" he pressed, still not understanding, and Lily let out a sigh of exasperation.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas," she answered, and when his face still looked irritatingly blank, she continued with a lilting sing-song voice. "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree. On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree."

"I've never heard that," James said, looking at Lily entirely enraptured. "Will you continue?"

Lily gave him a soft, shy sort of smile before she continued singing. As she went on, James took the roll of parchment and quill, sketching out each of the little scenes described in the song. Each picture displayed a handsome courtier presenting a fine lady with the items portrayed. When Lily finished singing, she looked on at James' sketches quite impressed.

"We ought to hang these on the walls," she commented, picking one up and walking over to a bare stretch of wall, holding it up. "What do you think?"

"Oh, er, I'm not sure I fancy having them hung up in the common room," James replied, looking away and rubbing the back of his neck somewhat nervously.

"Why ever not?" Lily inquired, surprised by his response.

"They're just… I'm not that good, that's just…" the color rose in his cheeks as he spoke.

"I think they're really lovely," Lily stated, and James gave only a weak smile. "No truly, you have a real talent."

"Thank you, but –"

"If you don't want to hang them, we won't," Lily conceded, and James nodded gratefully.

"You should keep them though, a Christmas present from me to you," he replied, looking up at her at last.

Lily smiled happily, but it turned into a yawn without her consent and she realized how late the hour must be getting.

"James, thank you, you have made this the best Christmas I could hope for," Lily said sincerely, enveloping him in a warm hug that she hoped conveyed the entirety of her gratitude.

"I'm happy to oblige," he answered, returning the hug, if not a little awkwardly.

"I never asked you why you came here," she realized, half a statement, half a question.

"I guess I missed my family too," James replied, and he stepped out of the hug. "Goodnight, Evans, and happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas, James," Lily returned, and the two of them set off to their respective dorms, Lily with his sketches held against her chest.

Before she climbed back into her bed, Lily tucked the drawings into her trunk, settling them right at the very bottom, where they would be safe and not get wrinkled or torn. She placed a rather high value on them, and had quite a mind to keep them for a very long time. It had turned out to be somewhat of a fairytale Christmas, Lily thought to herself as she snuggled under the heavy comforter. Perhaps James Potter was not so very bad after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N: Here we go, part 2 of my gift for jamesxlilyxpotter, hope you like it! Sorry it took so long to get this posted. There's a few original characters mentioned in passing, and they're borrowed from the Better Together universe. You can check out thosemarauderboys for more information on original characters._**

* * *

 **Hogwarts, December 1972**

 _I'll have a blue Christmas without you_

 _I'll be so blue thinking about you_

 _Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree_

 _Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me_

"Evans!" James called out, hurrying to pack his notes away and follow the redhead out of McGonagall's classroom. "Oi, Evans, wait up!"

Lily turned in time to see James rushing through the door of the classroom, bag swinging from his shoulders. She cocked her head and watched as he approached, waiting to see what he wanted from her.

"How d'you think your midterm went?" James asked as he caught up with her.

"Oh, fine I suppose," Lily answered, tucking an errant curl behind her ear. "Transfiguration isn't really my strongest subject to be frank. How do you think it went?"

"I thought it was quite lovely," James smiled, and they started walking back toward the Gryffindor common room.

"Yeah, well, you're the Transfiguration wonder boy, aren't you?" Lily mumbled. She was half in awe of his skill and half envious, bitter that he was so infuriatingly and effortlessly good at it while she struggled. But then, she supposed it was quite the opposite in Potions class.

One of the older Gryffindor girls pushed past Lily, sniggering at the two of them, and Lily rolled her eyes at the girl's back.

"Well, anyway, I just wanted to give you this," James said, reaching into his bag with both hands. He seemed to struggle for a moment before he extracted a large package, much larger than had any right to be in that bag.

"How did you do that?" Lily asked, her eyes wide.

"Undetectable extension charm," James grinned, and Lily's eyebrows flew higher.

"You can do those?" she exclaimed, surprise written all over her face.

"Oh yeah, piece of cake," he winked, shifting the strap of his bag on his shoulder. "Nah, only joking, my father did it for me before the start of term."

Lily laughed, light and pure, and James' heard leapt at the sound.

"Anyway, this is for you," he said after a moment, shuffling his feet uncomfortably as he held the green wrapped present out to him.

"Thank you," she said, placing her hands on the sides, fingers brushing against James'. "But what's it for?"

"Happy Christmas, Evans," James said with a shrug. "I thought… in case your sister didn't get you anything. I didn't want you to be a present short."

"Well, thank you," Lily replied, surprised that he would do such a thing.

"Right, well, I'm going to go meet Sirius, Remus, and Peter for dinner, but, er, I'll see you later then," James mumbled, turning to go back to the Great Hall with an awkward smile.

Lily frowned down at the package in her hands as she turned to face the portrait hold. "Mistletoe," she said absentmindedly as she considered the gift. Something bothered her about what he had said, the idea that one could have the wrong number of presents, as though there were some kind of quota to be reached. Lily shook her head slightly, reminding herself that James' family came from money, of course he probably got loads of gifts. But that hardly mattered, it was still a lovely thing that he'd done for her. She climbed the stone stairs to her dormitory and sat down on her bed. There was no one else there, the other girls having gone straight down to dinner most likely, and Lily's fingers toyed with the overlapping folds of giftwrapping.

She probably ought to wait until Christmas, but curiosity was getting the better of her, and she just really wanted to know what he had gotten her. Gently, she eased the paper off the box, and flipped the lid open. Inside was a tiny, living Christmas tree, with miniature baubles and little glowing orbs that looked almost like fairy lights, and thin garlands strung delicately over the branches. There was a note lain very precisely amongst the little branches, and Lily picked it up, gazing at James' untidy scrawl.

 _Dear Lily,_

 _I know how much you like to decorate trees, so I thought you ought to have one you can play around with a bit. The decorations should all change to look however you like them, just say the word "muto", and imagine what you'd like it to look like. I hope you like it, Evans. Happy Christmas._

 _James_

Lily smiled at the little tree, pulling it out of its box and setting it on the little night table next to her bed. It was such a sweet gift, she thought, as she ran her fingers over the branches, so very thoughtful of him. She would have to thank him properly when she saw him later.

* * *

Lily packed the little tree in her trunk when she woke in the morning, back in its box laid nicely alongside her clothes. She closed the lid with a smile, clicking the locks shut, and hauled it downstairs to the common room, from which point it would be brought to the train for her. With a skip, Lily set off to the Great Hall for breakfast, excited to go home for the first time in months, though she was anxious as well. The summer hadn't been awful, but still, things had not been the best between her and Petunia. And Lily was a little worried that it would only be worse when she went home now. She felt like she didn't know Petunia anymore sometimes. Lumina said the same thing had happened to her and her sister, said it was just part of getting older, that it would probably get better when they were older too, but Lily wasn't so sure, it seemed like more than that to her. Still, it would be good to be home.

When she reached the Great Hall, Lily sat down between Mirabelle Faulkner and Rosaline Barrington, glancing around the Hall.

"Who are you looking for?" Mirabelle asked, as she tucked in to her beans on toast.

"Potter," Lily answered as nonchalantly as possible, still gazing up and down the Gryffindor table.

"I doubt you'll see him down here before dinnertime," Rosaline scoffed, exchanging a mirthful look with Mirabelle. "He and Black were up till nearly four in the morning. Didn't you hear their competition to see who could sing American Pie better?"

"No, I must have been dead asleep," Lily laughed, entirely unsurprised that James and Sirius would do something so ridiculous.

"You're going home for Christmas, right?" Mirabelle inquired, and Lily nodded, her mouth too full of scrambled eggs to answer. "I saw you packing yesterday."

"Are either of you going home?"

"Sort of," Rosaline answered first, reaching across the table to pluck a scone off the platter. "My parents and I are going to visit my brother in America – he's gone to uni there."

"And I'll be skiing in the Alps with my family," Mirabelle added, and Lily smiled at the two of them.

"That sounds lovely," she said, although privately she thought that she wouldn't give up her little holiday plans of baking cookies and decorating trees and singing carols for anything in the world.

"I suppose we'd better get going then," Rosaline declared after a few minutes of idle chatter. "McGonagall will be leading the group back to the train any minute now."

The three girls stood and fixed their clothes, a habit after breakfast – you never knew when Potter or Black might fling scrambled eggs into your lap – and made their way out of the Hall, other students around them standing and following suit. All the students who were going home for the holidays gathered in the Entrance Hall, and not long after marched down the sloping lawns of Hogwarts toward the train station.

* * *

It was nearly midnight on Christmas Eve, and still James sat alone in the Gryffindor common room. He had come back after dinner, insistent on remaining there, playing Exploding Snap with Sirius, or chess with Remus. He watched as the fourth years and above came down from their dormitories, dressed in fancy clothes, meeting their dates to go to the Yule Ball. About an hour earlier, Peter had started yawning, and James sent him off to bed, insisting that the others didn't need to keep him company. Remus had gone up ten minutes after Peter, and Sirius not fifteen minutes after that. So James had continued to sit, all alone in the common room, waiting. Finally, the older students were starting to trickle back in, the ones who would be coming back at all, and James was starting to give up hope that she would ever come down.

 _But she had to_ , he thought to himself. James knew how much Christmas meant to Lily, how much she enjoyed it, and he simply knew that she would not spend it holed up in her dormitory. Not after all the fun they'd had last Christmas Eve. He hadn't seen her lately, so he couldn't be sure, but James was positive that the gift he'd given her was the best gift anyone had ever given. (He was also positive that Lily would not have waited until Christmas morning to open it.) He had been hoping that she would bring it down with her tonight, so he could tell her all the wonderful things he had done – how he had charmed the tree so that it would live longer than normal (or at least, he'd tried to, with Professor Flitwick's help); how he'd made it so that the little fairy lights could twinkle if she wanted them to; how all this had come from the idea of just getting her a little fake Christmas tree that she could decorate on her own, but that just hadn't seemed like enough.

At quarter to one in the morning, James went down to the kitchens, bringing back a platter of Christmas cookies and mince pies, determined to have everything perfect when Lily eventually came downstairs. He settled down on the couch, sketching pictures for a while – of Santa and Mrs. Claus, of an elf who looked weirdly like Lily without trying, of a little girl decorating a Christmas tree next to a fireplace that had cookies and milk laid out for Santa. After a while, he leaned back, starting to doze off.

James' eyes flew open to the sound of laughter, high and feminine, and he sat bolt upright, looking around for Lily. To his disappointment, he instead found Florence Hertford, arm in arm with Gideon Prewett. He had nothing against either of them, they were perfectly nice, and Gideon was a good Quidditch player, but neither of them was Lily Evans.

"What are you doing up?" Gideon questioned, and James remembered that he was a prefect – not that he was doing anything wrong simply by staying up in the common room.

"Waiting," James answered, not entirely wanting to elaborate.

"What, for Santa?" Florence teased with another little laugh. James realized now that it did not sound anything like Lily's laugh, and he wondered how he could have mistaken it.

"No, I'm waiting for Evans, if you must know," he grumbled, determined not to look at Florence. He could already see that soft expression from the corner of his eye, that look that grown-ups had that meant _ah-look-young-love_ , and James did _not_ want to see that look because that's absolutely _not_ what this was.

"Evans? She went home for Christmas, mate," Gideon informed the room, seemingly uncomfortable with being the one who had to break this news to James.

"What? Lily Evans?" James sputtered, completely taken aback.

"Yeah, sorry," Gideon continued. "I saw her leaving with the rest of them the other morning to catch the train."

"Oh," James answered, now feeling entirely dejected. "Well, thanks."

He stood up slowly, trying not to look too embarrassed as he walked past Gideon and Florence, but he seemed unable to lift his feet up. He climbed the stone stairs to his dormitory, disappointed and angry with himself for assuming that she would be staying here for Christmas, for not asking. James tried to push open the door as quietly as possible, tiptoeing across the bare wood floor so as not to wake the other boys.

The curtains on James' four poster were open, and as he drew closer, he saw faintly the outline of an owl, sitting happily on his pillows. He edged closer, careful not to jostle the little bird as he took a small square package from it. The owl took off the moment it was free, and James drew the curtains closed around him.

"Lumos," he whispered, and the tip of his wand began to emit a soft glow of light, just enough for James to see the little square envelope taped to the lid of the box. He peeled it off carefully, and then tore open envelope, too excited to be careful any longer. Inside was a note in Lily's neat cursive.

 _Dear James,_

 _Happy Christmas. I hope you are enjoying the holidays. It seemed only fair for you to get your gift before Christmas morning, since I did. I'm cutting it a bit close, I know, but it took me a few tries to work out the spell._

 _I hope you like it._

 _Lily_

 _P.S. Shake it. Like a bell._

Intrigued, James lifted the lid off the box, and inside he found a red bauble, nestled among tissue paper to keep it from moving. He pulled it out carefully, and turned it over in his hand, smiling at the rather poorly painted gold lion. It appeared Lily's skill in drawing had not improved much over the past year. Gently, James pinched the top between his fingers and gave it a bit of a shake, the exact way he would ring a bell. Soft music began to flow from it, and a moment later, he heard Lily's voice.

"One the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree," she sang, her voice young and sweet and so beautiful. As she continued the song, James clutched the bauble tightly, positively enamored by the sound of her voice. The song finished, and James shook the bauble again, and once more, Lily's voice floated out from it.

James shook the bauble one last time, and then set it on the nightstand next to his bed. He fell asleep within moments to the sound of Lily singing. The last thing he thought before sleep claimed him was that it was the best Christmas present he had ever gotten, perhaps the best present anyone had ever gotten.


End file.
